08-1521 Amicus-Anti-Defamation.Pdf
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No. 08-1521 IN THE OTIS McDONALD, et al., Petitioners, CITY OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, et al., Respondents. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES C()URT OF APPEALS FOR THE SEVENTH CIRCUIT BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAE ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS MARTIN E. KARLINSKY LEONARD M. NIEHOFF BUTZEL LONG, Counsel of Record A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION CHRISTOPHER M. TAYLOR 380 Madison Avenue, 22nd Floor BUTZEL LONG, New York, New York 10017 A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION (212) 323-8606 350 S. Main Street, Suite 300 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 (734) 213-3625 MARK S. FINKELSTEIN STEVEN M. FREEMAN STEVEN C. SHEINBERG DEBORAH C. BENSINGER ANTI-DEFAMATION LEAGUE 605 Third Avenue New York, New York 10158 (212) 885-7700 Attorneys.for Amicus Curiae Anti-Defamation League E.lank Page TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF AUTHORITIES ...................................... iii INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE ............................ 1 SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT ..................................... 5 ARGUMENT ............................................................... 6 I. VIOLENT EXTREMISTS AND EXTREMIST GROUPS POSE A SERIOUS THREAT IN THE UNITED STATES ....................................................... 6 Richard Baumhammers ......................................... 6 Wade and Christopher Lay .................................... 7 James Von Brunn .................................................. 8 II. THE COURT’S DECISION SHOULD TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE SPECIAL THREAT POSED BY EXTREMISTS AND EXTREMIST GROUPS .................................................................... 14 A. The Threats Posed by Extremists and Extremist Organizations Support a Decision that Second Amendment Rights are not Incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment .......................................................... 15 ii B. A Ruling that Incorporates Second Amendment Rights Through the Privileges or Immunities Clause and that Destabilizes Longstanding Fourteenth Amendment Jurisprudence Could Feed Extremist Antagonism and Violence Toward Non- Citizens ................................................................. 19 C. Judicial Restraint Is Appropriate Here Because Lower Courts and Legal Scholars Have Only Just Begun to Interpret Heller ......... 21 CONCLUSION .......................................................... 30 TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Cases Chandler v. F~orida, 449 U.S. 560 (1981) ................................................................ 18 District of Columbia v. HelIer, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008) .................................... passim Duncan v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 145 (1968) ................................................................ 19 Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007) ...................................................................... 14 New State Ice Co. v. Liebmann, 285 U.S. 262 (1932) ................................................................ 18 PDK Labs., Inc. v. Drug Enforcement Admin., 362 F.3d 786 (D.C. Cir. 2004) .................. 14 Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202 (1982) ............................. 21 United States v. Lopez, 514 U.S. 549 (1995) ...................................................................... 18 Secondary Authorities Adam Winkler, Scrutinizing the Second Amendment, 105 Mich. L. Rev. 683 (2007) .... passim ADL, ADL Trains Over 2, 000 Law Enforcement Officers in October, November 19, 2009 .................. 2 ADL, Extremism in America, available at http ://www.adl.org/le ar/ext_us ....................... passim ADL, Father and Son Convicted on Bank Robbery, Murder Charges for Anti-Government Plot, September 30, 2005 .......................................... 8 ADL, FBI Hate Crime Numbers Disturbing; Calls for ’Coordinated Campaign" To Confront Hate Violence, November 23, 2009 ................... 12-13 ADL, James Von Brunn: An ADL Backgrounder, June 11, 2009 ........................................................... 10 ADL, Pittsburgh Man Sentenced to Five Death Sentences for Racist Killing Spree, September 7, 2001 ....................................................................... 7 ADL, Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies available at http://www.adl.org! special_reports/rage-grows-in-America/default. asp ..................................................................... 11-12 ADL, White Supremacists Celebrate Holocaust Museum Shooter Suspect as a Martyr and Hero, June 11, 2009 ................................................ 10 ADL, White Supremacists Ratchet up Anti- Hispanic Action as U.S. Immigration Debate Rages, May 24, 2006 ............................................... 21 Allan Bullock, Hitler, A Study in Tyranny 149 (Harper & Row) (abridged ed. 1991) ................ 13-14 Bernard E. Harcourt, On Gun Registration, the NRA, Adolph Hitler, and Nazi Gun Laws, 73 Fordham L. Rev. 653 (2004) ................................... 13 Calvin Massey, Guns, Extremists, and the Constitution, 57 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1095 (2000) ................................................................ 26, 27 Cass R. Sunstein, Second Amendment Minimalism: He]]er as Griswold, 122 Harv. L. Rev. 246 (2008) ....................................................... 15 V Eugene Volokh, Implementing the Right to Keep and Bear Arms for Self-Defense: An Analytical Framework and a Research Agenda, 56 UCLA L. Rev. 1443 (2009) ................................................. 28 Jason T. Anderson, Second Amendment Standards of Review: What the Supreme Court Left Unanswered in District of Columbia v. He]]er, 82 S. Cal. L. Rev. 547 (2009) .......... 22, 23, 27 Lawrence Rosenthal, District of Columbia v. Heller Sand Originalism, 103 Nw. U. L. Rev. 966 (2009) ................................................. 16-17 Lawrence B. Solum, Second Amendment Plumbing After Heller: Of Standards of Scrutiny, Incorporation, Well-Regulated Militias, and Criminal Street Gangs, 41 Urb. Law. 1 (2009) .......................................................... 21 Mark Tushnet, Permissible Gun Regulations after Heller: Speculations about Method and Outcomes, 56 UCLA L. Rev. 1425 (2009) .................................................. 23, 27, 28 Philip J. Cook, Jens Ludwig, & Adam M. Samaha, Gun Control After Heller: Threats and Sideshows from a Social Welfare Perspective, 56 UCLA L. Rev. 1041 (2009) ..4, 18, 22 Saul Cornell & Nathan DeDino, A Well- Regulated Right: The Early American Origins of Gun Control, 73 Fordham L. Rev. 487 (2004) ...26 Saul Cornell, A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America (Oxford University Press 2006) .............................................................. 26 Stuart Banner, The Second Amendment, So Far, 117 Harv. L. Rev. 898 (2004) ................................. 22 Transcript of Oral Argument at 45, District of Columbia v. Heller, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008) (No. 07-290) .................................................................... 29 INTEREST OF AMICUS CURIAE The Anti-Defamation League ("ADL") submits this brief as amicus curiae in support of Respondents.1 ADL was organized in 1913 to advance good will and mutual understanding among Americans of all creeds and races. Its charter holds that it was founded "to stop the defamation of the Jewish people and to secure justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike." ADL fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals, protects civil rights for all, and, most relevant to this case, has a long history of investigating, monitoring, exposing, and combating extremists. ADL’s efforts to monitor and expose extremists -- and to educate the public about the threats posed by extremists -- are reflected, in part, in its extensive online reporting on violent extremism and terrorism, including the encyclopedic Extremism in America.2 ~ ADL gave at least ten days’ notice of intention to file this brief to counsel of record for the parties. The parties themselves lodged letters of consent with the Clerk of this Court. No counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or in part, and no such counsel or party made a monetary contribution intended to fund its preparation or submission. No person other than ADL or its counsel made a monetary contribution intended to fund its preparation or submission. 2 See ADL, Extremism in America, http://www.adl.Org/learrg ext us/ (last visited December 22, 2009); http://ww~v.adl.org/ main Extremism/ (extensive news and resources on extremism), www.adl.org/learn (extremist news and information for law enforcement), and http://www.adl.org/ ~nain Terrorism/default.htm (information relating to domestic (Continued...) 2 That report includes detailed descriptions of extremist individuals, leaders, groups, movements, and media. ADL has also made good use of its expertise in this area, regularly providing training on extremists and terrorists to law enforcement professionals, and has become the leading non- governmental organization training law enforcement on this critical subject. For example, in October of 2009 alone, ADL trained more than 2,000 law enforcement professionals nationwide on topics related to extremism and hate crimes.3 Since 1967, ADL has also advocated for strong, effective, and sensible gun control legislation. ADL has done so, in part, because of its recognition that a culture of guns and violence is pervasive among extremists. In order to address the real and imminent threats posed by extremists and by those who engage in hate crimes, ADL has long maintained that federal, state, and local units of government must have the latitude